, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and the Sunnah of his Rightly Guided Caliphs, and which reflects established practice—is that sharecropping is valid. Accordingly, the grantee is entitled to his share and must pay its zakat, while the farmer is entitled to his share and must pay its zakat. If they require the farmer to pay the tithe owed by the soldier, then he is to pay it on the soldier’s behalf from the soldier’s own property, as is evident. This is a clear entitlement about which the scholars do not disagree; it is not a concealed entitlement that the soldier could deny. Likewise, the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said to Hind:

“Take what reasonably suffices for you and your child.”

The obligation to provide maintenance for one’s wife and child is a manifest right that Abū Sufyān could not deny.

This is comparable to his saying:

“Return what has been entrusted to you to the one who entrusted you with it, and do not betray someone who has betrayed you.”

In another narration:

“We have neighbours who take every single thing of ours they can find. If we gain access to anything of theirs, may we take it?”

He replied: “Return what has been entrusted to you to the one who entrusted you with it, and do not betray someone who has betrayed you.”

For the entitlement here is concealed and is not immune from injustice. Thus, taking something without a manifest entitlement constitutes a betrayal. And Allah, glorified is He, knows best.